Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Antisemitism in the UK, 2011

One Toby Green - whom non-Brits have never heard of - has resigned from the Green Party - something else the non-Brits didn't know existed. His reason? The party has been taken over by Trotskyite antisemites. (Some of them commented on his post). Some of his explanation is too detailed and insider-ish for the rest of us to follow, but the general outlines are very clear, very convincing, and rather worrying. They can't do anything to Israel or the majority of Jews worldwide who support it, but rising antisemitism can't be a good thing.

He shows how extremist groups around the world of apparently conflicting ideologies can coalesce around anti-Zionism and antisemitism, because they all believe their proposed utopias can only be achieved once Zionism and Israel have been eliminated. The world can only be "purified" when Israel has be eradicated. This is the glue that holds together the "Red-Green-Brown" coalition (Marxist-Communists-Environmentalists-Islamists-Fascists-neo-Nazis). Thus, fringe groups, like the British Green Party, who may have people who are deeply involved in the environment will end up confronting people who will say that there is no point in trying to save the environment as long as the Palestinians are "oppressed", so therefore the party has to change its orientation from environmental concerns to anti-Zionism. Thus, it is natural that fringe groups gravitate in this direction. The same will happen (and is indeed happening now) with fringe groups like J-Street which will end up being dominated by out and out anti-Zionists and it will stop calling itself "pro-Israel" along with its (phony) "pro-peace" label. I think this has happened already with its college/univsersity division.

We have a lot more problems with anti semites than we care to imagine as most Jews (especially Assajews) are quite fearful of what might become of their livelihood should they 'call out' the jew hatred in their midst.

A lot can be written about this but in the end, it is all just rheotric and butter making.

Better to think of ways to make Israel stronger than to try to convince Jew haters of the error of their ways.

In principle I agree with you, but I think we need to do both. Making Israel stringer means taking the fight to those across the world trying to weaken Israel economically, politically, and morally.

Israelis are only just waking up to what is going on in the world around them - there was a finally a 2 page spread in Yediot a week or so ago on the BDS movement, which I am sure is the first time many Israelis will have heard of it if they bothered to read the article.

There is a determined world-wide effort to continually weaken and delegitimize Israel by article after article, conferences like the coming JStreet conference in Washington, and demonstrations by small but very vocal anti-Israeli Jewish groups like IJV specially using "as-a-Jews" to lead the charge(Like the article by an anti-Israeli Reform Rabbi - Rabbi Howard Cooper’s Act of Bad Faith)

When I have shown some of the material that is out on the internet and YouTube and papers like the Guardian attacking Israel to visiting Israelis, they are first horrified and then retreat into a kind of Israeli apathy "there's nothing than can be done".

There is lots to be done, and strengthening Israel requires taking the initiative to fight back across the globe via the various media that are available.

Intersetingly, I truly believe that 'nothing can be done' either. Most Jew haters are too far gone to be converted by our efforts.

It is just my opinion, but we must focus on our friends, as you suggested and make Israel itself physically and economically stronger.

Gov't investment must be in the direction of science and mathematics to create tomorrow's geniuses.

Lawfare is nothing but rhetoric and is mostly scornful.

I just finished a book "The Arab Lobby" that left me feeling stronger because I KNOW that this activity will continue against us regardless - and we must look forward and make ourselves more self reliant.

And who cares what people think. We cannot change their minds anyway.

That is why I am so drawn to Ya'acov's reasoning (on many things) - we should get out of the territories because it would make Israel stronger, not because we are right and they are wrong or vice versa.

Agreed, I think there is a general problem within the British and European intelligentsia and that's what we're seeing here.

The majority of Brits are probably, in fact, what you might classify as "Zionist", they accept the existence of Israel, etc, however, many are naturally alarmed at how it is portrayed in the media, but there's comparatively little discussion on the wider Middle East and the numerous despotic regimes there.

It is a bit of an anti-colonialist fixation, the reverse "white man's burden", if you will.

That's what we are seeing in the Greens, it is not confined to one particular political element in the Greens, and yes there is a Left and Right there, it is more of a Class thing, very British.

In this instance a comparatively good policy on antisemitism was scotched by a few fanatical activists.

Others Greens are against this equivocation in the face of racism, so it's a bit more complex than the post suggests.